A normal person might have thought that the whole “birther” thing was dead a long time ago. After all, President Obama is serving his second and final term, the conspiracy folks really did lose in making this a big public issue to sway voters or politicians, and, well, it’s a fairly silly conspiracy (what’s the requirement? Someone thought over 40 years ago that this little baby may grow up to be the President of the US some day so we need to forge his birth certificate?). But that doesn’t stop some people.

That would be Arizona’s Maricopa county Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, the same one who was sued by the Justice Department for racial profiling.

Far-right people who believe in the same fringe conspiracies often flock to each other for the echo chamber effect, and this column is no exception, for it is billed as “an exclusive interview with WND.” In it, he explained being re-elected as sheriff is just too important, especially with the illegal immigration crisis and certain, “sensitive investigations” still in play.”

What “sensitive investigations,” you may ask? Well:

Arpaio also told Rusty Humphries of the Washington Times recently one of those “sensitive” projects was his continued investigation into Barack Obama’s allegedly forged birth certificate.

“If I was the governor, which I turned down a couple of weeks ago because I would have to resign, I’m not going to leave this office to somebody coming in when I have sensitive investigations going, including the president’s birth certificate,” Arpaio said. “I haven’t finished that yet.

“I don’t care where [Obama] was born. That has nothing to do with it,” he continued. “I’m concerned about a forged, fraudulent government document. From Day 1 I’ve been investigating that, now we have to find out who’s behind that. I’m getting close.”

Unsurprisingly, the echo chamber is strong with WND, and the column, published a week ago today, has 1481 comments. And, as usual, comments questioning the conspiracy were deleted by moderators. Echo chambers work better when someone doesn’t poke holes in them.